John Adams to Abigail Adams

[dateline] Paris June 26. 1783

[salute] My dearest Frind

No Letters from you Since last December. Write by the Way of England Holland, France
Spain all the Winds of Heaven. You may desire Mr. Storer to inclose your Letters to
the Care of his Connections in London.1 Letters come now by that Way very well.

I know not when I shall see you. I begin to fear it will not be, till next year. Yet
I am in constant hopes every Moment of receiving from Congress my Quietus. If it comes
I shall embark in September, October or November. But whether from France, Holland
or England I know not. The Uncertainty in which We are left is cruel. We have no Information
of the sentiments of Congress upon the Peace, nor any Intimation of their Pleasure
for the future.

My dear Daughter and my brave Boys, what would I give to see them and how much more
their Mamma. John is translating Suetonius and Virgil into French at the Hague. He
says very gravely it is more convenient to him to turn them into French than English.
This is not pleasing to me, who still love the English Language better than the French.

We dont yet know whether you are angry with Us for making Peace, or what you think
of Us.

1. Probably Ebenezer Storer's daughter Elizabeth and her husband, John Atkinson, whom
the Adamses would see often in London in 1785.

Docno: ADMS-04-05-02-0105

Author: Cranch, Richard

Recipient: Adams, John

Date: 1783-06-26

Richard Cranch to John Adams

[dateline] Boston June 26th. 1783

[salute] Dear Brother

Your most esteemed Favour of the 15th. of December came safe to hand, for which I
heartily thank you. I have also been favour'd with the sight of several of your other
Letters, particularly one to Uncle Smith about the Fishery;1 and I got liberty from him to let some of your Essex Friends have a sight of it,
particularly your Friend and Class-mate Mr. Dalton (the Speaker) and some other Members
of the Fishing Towns.2 They are very highly gratified with the Honour you do them in saying that “for the
rest of your Days you shall consider your self as a Marblehead or Cape-Ann Man.” I
am perswaded that something higher than the “Freedom of their Cities in { 186 } a Box of Heart of Oak, or the Quintal of dumb Fish” that you humourously mention for
your Lady, is very seriously tho't of by them; and, as I think, by the People at large.
I think it is the general Wish that He whose great Talents in Negotiation (under God)
have given us Peace, and whose unshaken Firmness has caused our “Independance to be
Independant,” should be our first Magistrate. Holland in the American Scale, and in
consequence thereof a Treaty enter'd on. An unrestrained Fishery obtained. Boundaries
of Territory so ample, that we could scarcely in Idea comprehend their Extent and
future Advantages. All these and a thousand other publick Benefits, we think ourselves
indebted for, to your Virtue, great Abilities and indefatigable Application in favour
of your Country.

But the Tories—there's the Pinch. The Spirit runs very high here at present against
letting any one of the Absentees return. I wish to be informed by you whether any
of the Articles of Novr. 30th. 1782 respecting those Persons were understood by the
contracting Parties as being any thing more than meerly recommendatory, and which of them (if any such there be) are to be considered by the States as absolutely binding. I will endeavour to explain my self. If, for instance, the Estate of A (an Absentee)
had bean confiscated and sold before the Treaty was Signed; the Restitution of such
an Estate to the former Owner, would rest only on the Recommendation of Congress,
according to the 5th. Article,3 which Recommendation, I conceive, may or may not be comply'd with by the State where
the Estate lies; and therefore it would be uncertain to A whether his Estate should
ever be restored to him or not. But if B, another Absentee in the same Predicament
as the former, has been so lucky as not to have had his Estate libelled or prosecution
commenced against it until after the signing of the Treaty; He, if the 6th. Article4 be considered as absolutely binding on the States, seems to me to be secured from
any future Prosecution or Confiscation of his Property. So that A may loose his Estate,
because the Restitution of it, according to the 5th. Article, is meerly recommendatory,
and may not be comply'd with by the Government of the State where the Estate lies:
while B, on the contrary will be secure from loosing his Estate because by the 6th
Article (if that is absolutely binding on the several States) it is stipulated that
no further Prosecutions shall commence against any Person on account of the Part he
has taken in the War. These are difficulties that we would wish to have solved, and
we should be glad to know from you in what latitude we are to take the sense of the
{ 187 } 5th. and 6th. Articles respecting the Restitution of the Absentee's Estates, their
Return &c.

Our very worthy Friend, the Honble. Cotton Tufts Esqr., is of the Senate this Year,
and is now here (the General Court being sitting). I expect he will write to You and
Mr. Thaxter more fully on Publick Affairs, and to his Letters I must referr you. We
shall send the present Pacquet by Cousin William Smith who will sail in a few Days
for London, and I hope he will have the happiness of seeing you and our worthy Friends
Thaxter and Storer before he returns; and particularly our young Northern Envoy, who
before this time, I hope, is happily return'd to you. We all long to see and embrace
him here.

Our dear Boys, Charles Tommy and Billy, are all at Haverhill at present under the
Tuition of Brother Shaw, who, with our excellent Sister, will take the best Care both
of their Learning and Morals. Your Lady and Daughter and my Betsy are gone to pay
them a Visit. I heard from them last Saturday, when they were all well.

We have lately heard from N: Hampshire of the Death of your aged and truly venerable
Uncle the Revd. Mr. Adams of Newington.5 I have been informed that the last Sermon he ever preach'd was a Thanksgiving Sermon
on the Peace, in which he express'd his great satisfaction at having lived to see
that great Event take place (he being then, if I mistake not; about 96 or 97 Years
of age) and more especially on considering the firm and decisive Part that One of
his own Blood and Family had born in bringing about that glorious Period.

Your Mother and Brother and his Children are well. Uncle Quincy is not very well.
Father Smith, Coll. Thaxter and Family, and all our near Connections are as well as
usual. Poor Mr. Crosby the Preacher is dead: he died lately of a Consumption, his
Wife died about a Year ago and his Infant Child. There is only one Child, a little
Girl, remaining.6

We are all longing for the happy Day when the great Publick will so far release you
as to give your particular Friends and Relatives an Oportunity of personally congratulating
the Father of their Country and the Friend of Mankind. In which no one will join with
more sincerity or warmer Gratitude than your ever affectionate

[signed] Brother Richard Cranch

P.S. My dear Wife and Children join with me in our best Wishes for your Health and
Safety, beging that you would present our kindest Regards to your amiable Son, if
return'd, and to our worthy and very { 188 } esteemed Friends Thaxter and Storer. I intend to write to Mr. Thaxter by this Oportunity
if possible.

RC (Adams Papers); addressed: “To His Excellency John Adams Esqr. Minister for the United States of
America, at Paris”; endorsed: “Mr. Cranch. 26. June 1783 ansd. 10. Septr.”

4. Art. 6 begins, “That there shall be no future Confiscations made, nor any prosecutions
commenced against any Person or Persons, for or by reason of the Part which he or
they may have taken in the present War” (Miller, ed., Treaties, 2:99).

6. Joseph Crosby, Harvard 1772, son of Maj. Joseph Crosby of Braintree, and brother-in-law
of Peter Boylston Adams, JA's brother, died on 28 May. His wife Betsey had died on 28 July 1782. His surviving
daughter, Elizabeth Anne, later married Boylston Adams, JA's nephew and her first cousin (JA, Diary and Autobiography, 2:52; 3:277; MH-Ar; Pattee, Old Braintree and Quincy, p. 156; New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, 30:8).